Saturday, June 26th 2021
Considering the quarter-finals
Dolberg & Co. continue Denmark’s fairy tale
Even the move into the knockout phase of the European Football Championship is a great success for the Danes after the collapse shock to Christian Eriksen in the opening game. But the team of coach Kasper Hjulmand wants more – and lets the overwhelmed Welsh feel badly.
The impressive journey continues: With concentrated Ajax power in Amsterdam and the spirit of 1992, the Danish national team provided the next emotional climax after the drama about Christian Eriksen. With the 4-0 (1-0) win against Wales with superstar Gareth Bale, the Scandinavians made it to the quarter-finals of the European Football Championship – and fueled hopes for a new sensation.
Exactly 29 years to the day after the European Championship final triumph against Germany in Gothenburg, the former Ajax professional Kasper Dolberg (27./48.) Shot on his return to the Johan Cruyff Arena as well as Joakim Maehle (88.) and Martin Braithwaite (90. + 4) the team of coach Kasper Hjulmand into the next round. It was the first victory in a knockout game since the European Championship in which Danish Dynamite surprisingly stormed the title as a carefree underdog. The Danes meet in the quarter-finals in Baku on Saturday (6 p.m. in the ntv.de live ticker) to the Netherlands or the Czech Republic.
“It’s crazy to stand here. It feels insane. It’s surreal,” Dolberg told the Danish TV broadcaster DR: “For me it started here in the stadium. To play here again in front of this backdrop was crazy , and to score here in a game like this is special. “
The Welshman Harry Wilson conceded in the final phase for gross foul play Red (90.) – a tough decision by the German referee Daniel Siebert. For Bale and Co., however, the dream of repeating their success at the European Championships five years ago fell through – at that time the “dragons” only sensationally failed at their premiere in the semi-finals. “That’s not how the game should go,” Bale admitted to the BBC, “to be eliminated the way we did it is disappointing, the boys are frustrated and angry – understandably.”
First “EM away game”
Eriksen was not in the stadium in Amsterdam either, but the huge jersey with the “10” was again – as were Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and thousands of Danish fans who provided an atmospheric backdrop for their team’s first “European Championship away game”. The belief in a tournament course, which quite a few had hardly considered possible immediately after Eriksen’s collapse, had increased again after the group final.
“The hunger and the dreams are great,” emphasized captain Simon Kjaer. But in Eriksen’s old home in Amsterdam, where the midfielder had played in the Ajax jersey for four years and matured into a star, the Danes initially struggled against the physically robust team of coach Robert Page. Bale (10th) just missed the first warning shot.
Only after around 20 minutes, when Hjulmand switched to 4-3-3 and Andreas Christensen moved into midfield alongside Thomas Delaney from Dortmund and Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg from Munich, did the Danes act in a more structured manner – with success. Dolberg, who represented the battered Leipzig Yussuf Poulsen in the center of the storm, took the lead from the edge of the penalty area.
Denmark determines the game
Hjulmand’s eleven immediately followed up and immediately hit the second goal – always right in the middle: Dolberg. On the other hand, Bale remained pale, the initial swing of the overwhelmed Welsh was fizzled at the latest after the residue. Maehle (45th + 1) hit the side netting just before the break.
Denmark continued to dominate the game and got off to a perfect start in the second half. Dolberg benefited from a fatal bad pass from Welsh Neco Williams and executed ice cold from close range. Protests at Siebert von Bale, who wanted to have seen a foul in the development of Kieffer Moore, remained ineffective.
With the comfortable lead in the back, the Danes cleverly controlled the game – and remained dangerous with a long-range shot from Mathias Jensen (66th), who had come for Delaney after an hour. Bale and Co., on the other hand, had little idea on the offensive, only Joe Allen (67th) appeared again in the Danish penalty area.
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